If you’re running a B2B sales team, you know the drill: leads come in, follow-up gets delayed, and deals slip away while you’re buried in reminders and spreadsheets. Automating your follow-up isn’t about chasing shiny objects—it’s about saving time, avoiding human error, and making sure nobody falls through the cracks.
This guide is for sales managers, team leads, or anyone tired of nagging reps to remember their next text. We’re focusing on practical steps for automating lead follow-up in Textus—the SMS platform built for business conversations, not group chats with your aunt.
Let's get straight to it.
Step 1: Map Out Your Real-World Follow-Up Workflow
Before you touch any software, you need a clear picture of what’s supposed to happen. Don’t fall for the “automate everything” trap—half the battle is knowing what to automate and what needs a human touch.
Ask yourself: - What’s your usual cadence? (e.g., Day 1, Day 3, Day 7) - What triggers a follow-up? (New lead, no reply, specific action, etc.) - Where do leads come from? (CRM, landing page, trade show upload, etc.) - Who should follow up? (Round robin, assigned rep, shared inbox?)
Pro tip:
Draw it on a napkin first. If you can’t explain it in 30 seconds, it’s probably too complicated.
Step 2: Clean Up Your Lead Data
Automation is only as good as your input. Garbage in, garbage out.
- Standardize phone numbers. If you’re importing from a CRM, make sure numbers are in the right format (country code, no weird characters).
- Segment your leads. Not all leads need the same follow-up. Tag them by source, interest, or priority.
- Remove obvious junk. Duplicates, spam submissions, or stale contacts clog up your process and make your metrics useless.
Honest take:
If your data is a mess, fix that first. No workflow can save you from a thousand “wrong number” replies.
Step 3: Set Up Textus Integrations (If You Actually Need Them)
Textus plays nice with a lot of CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot, Bullhorn, etc.), but don’t connect everything just because you can.
- Connect only what matters. If your CRM is your source of truth, sync contacts and activity. Otherwise, start simple with CSV uploads.
- Double-check permissions. Make sure the right people can see and act on conversations.
- Test the sync. Send yourself a test lead and see if it shows up where you expect.
Ignore:
Fancy integrations you don’t have the bandwidth to maintain. Complexity is the enemy of reliability.
Step 4: Build Your Automated Follow-Up Sequence
Time to set up the actual workflow. In Textus, you’ll use features like templates, scheduled messages, and workflow triggers.
4.1. Create Message Templates
Start with the basics: - First-touch: Introduction, quick value prop, clear next step. - Follow-up 1: Gentle nudge, maybe a question. - Follow-up 2: Last call, offer to close the loop.
Tips: - Sound human. “Hey [First Name], just checking in…” beats “Greetings, valued prospect.” - Keep it short. SMS isn’t email. - Use variables (like name, company) to personalize—don’t overdo it.
4.2. Set Up Scheduled Sends
For each template, schedule your sends: - Day 0: Immediately after lead comes in. - Day 2: If no response, auto-send follow-up. - Day 5: Final ping.
Most teams find 2–3 touches is the sweet spot before it gets spammy.
Watch out:
Don’t schedule messages outside normal business hours. Nobody likes a 3am sales text.
4.3. Define Triggers for Automation
- Trigger on new lead: When a new contact is added (manually or via integration), kick off the sequence.
- Branching logic: If they reply at any point, pause automation and hand off to a human. If not, keep moving through the steps.
Some B2B teams get fancy with branching (“If they click this link, send X message”), but honestly, start simple. You can always layer on complexity later.
Step 5: Assign Conversations and Monitor Responses
Automation isn’t “set and forget.” You still need humans jumping in when a lead responds (or when things go sideways).
- Assign by owner: Make sure replies route to the correct sales rep.
- Set up notifications: Get pinged in-app, by email, or even Slack when someone replies.
- Use shared inboxes wisely: Good for coverage, bad for accountability.
Note:
If your team ignores notifications, no workflow will save you. Build habits before bells and whistles.
Step 6: Test Everything End-to-End
Now’s the time to play “mystery shopper” with your own process.
- Run a test lead through the sequence. Did the messages go out on time? Did they sound right?
- Reply to the texts. Did automation pause? Did the conversation get assigned?
- Check your CRM or dashboard. Is everything logged where you expect?
Pro tip:
Test on both mobile and desktop. You’d be surprised how often things look fine on one and broken on the other.
Step 7: Measure What Matters (And Ignore Vanity Metrics)
It’s tempting to obsess over open rates or how many replies you get. But here’s what actually matters:
- Speed to first response: How fast do you text new leads? (Minutes matter.)
- Reply rate: Are people actually engaging, or just ignoring you?
- Conversion to next step: Are you booking meetings or demos—not just sending messages?
Ignore spreadsheet gymnastics. Focus on the handful of numbers that prove this is saving you time and moving deals forward.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Skip
- Works: Short, timely messages with a clear ask. Personalized but not creepy.
- Doesn’t work: Over-automating. If every touchpoint is a bot, people tune out quick.
- Skip: Overly complex branching, “AI” copywriting (it’s usually obvious), and endless notifications.
If your team spends more time fixing the workflow than talking to leads, you’ve overcooked it.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Fast
Don’t get sucked into building a Rube Goldberg machine for follow-ups. Start basic, watch how it performs, and tweak it as you go. Automation should save your team time and make them more human—not less.
If something’s not working, cut it. If reps are ignoring leads, fix the culture, not the workflow. The best B2B sales teams keep things simple, run tight follow-ups, and use tools like Textus to make the annoying stuff disappear—not to avoid real conversations.
Now get out there, set up your workflow, and get back to closing deals.